Untitled Document
I won’t deny that Christmas held a certain
cachet for me as a kid, with the oft-unbearable anticipation of
Santa’s arrival and gift-delivery service, but none of it held a
candle to Mother Nature’s gift of summertime, not then or now. Visions of sugarplum fairies? Not for this kid.
Instead, my thoughts turned to midsummer night’s dreams and the
faeries of the enchanted forest, where no one was wearing a winter coat and
all things seemed possible. Mother Nature was there not just in spirit but also
behind the scenes, making sure that everything went to plan, donating
firefly night lights and perfuming the air with honeysuckle and jasmine.
She made the grass soft and the trees shady so I could sit and plunge
headfirst into a hunk of watermelon and slurp on peaches.
She made everything beautiful and bright, a parade of
colors and a dance of sultry breezes and late sunsets that allowed for more
time on my bicycle. Everything was like magic; we even played with our
food! Who needed a fork for a hot dog off the grill or an ear of boiled
corn, a BLT with a tomato the color of Mom’s lipstick — or,
best of all, freezer treats in some kind of handheld package? I loved them all — Kool Pops, Fudgesicles,
those Neapolitan combos on a stick, and, of course, the sandwich. When else
but summer could a sandwich of ice cream be possible? How I loved the race
against time imposed by the sun pouring down on my ice-cream middle,
forcing me to lick around the edges to keep it from melting onto my bathing
suit.
Culinary questions? Contact Kim O’Donnel at kim.odonnel@creativeloafing.com.
Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies
From The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1
cup granulated sugar One large egg, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets
with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Beat together butter and sugar in the bowl of an
electric mixer, or by hand, until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour,
baking powder, and salt. Stir dry ingredients gradually into creamed butter
mixture until completely incorporated and there are no streaks of butter. Form dough into 16 1 1/2-inch rounds. On the baking
sheets, flatten rounds so they’re 3 inches across, spacing them
evenly. You can fit eight on a normal 11-by-17 baking sheet, with three
going lengthwise down the sides and two in the center in between.
Bake for 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets
midway during baking, then remove from oven. Once cool, sandwich ice cream of your choice between
two cookies, then wrap each ice-cream sandwich in plastic wrap and store in
freezer. Makes 16 cookies for eight ice-cream sandwiches.
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2007.
